tle hotel clerk, with oily
hair, a snub-nose, and a waxed black moustache, in the Adirondacks when
I was that age."

Mrs. Lancaster made no reply to this, and her hostess looked at her
keenly.

"Where was it? How long before--?" She started to ask, how long before
she was married, but caught herself. "What did he look like? He must
have been good-looking, or you would not be so pensive."

"He looked like--a man."

"How old was he--I mean, when he fell in love with you?" said Mrs.
Wentworth, with a sort of gasp, as she recalled Mr. Lancaster's gray
hair and elderly appearance.

"Rather young. He was only a few years older than I was; a young--what's
his name?--Hercules, that brought me down a mountain in his arms the
second time I ever saw him."

"Alice Lancaster!"

"I had broken my leg--almost I had got a bad fall from a horse and could
not walk, and he happened to come along."

"Of course. How romantic! Was he a doctor? Did you do it on purpose?"
Mrs. Lancaster smiled.

"No; a young schoolmaster up in the mountains. He was not handsome--not
then. But he was fine-looking, eyes that looked straight at you and
straight through you; the whitest teeth you ever saw; and shoulders! He
could carry a sack of salt!" At the recollection a faint smile flickered
about her lips.

"Why didn't you marry him?"

"He had not a cent in the world. He was a poor young school-teacher, but
of a very distinguished family. However, mamma took fright, and whisked
me away as if he had been a pestilence."

"Oh, naturally!"

"And he was too much in love with me. But for that I think I should not
have given him up. I was dreadfully cut up for a little while. And he--"
She did not finish the sentence.

On this Mrs. Wentworth made no observation, though the expression about
her mouth changed.

"He made a reputation afterwards. I knew he would. He was bound to
succeed. I believed in him even then. He had ideals. Why don't men have
ideals now?"

"Some of them do," asserted Mrs. Wentworth.

"Yes; Norman has. I mean unmarried men. I heard he made a fortune, or
was making one--or something."

"Oh!"

"He knew more than any one I ever saw--and made you want to know. All I
ever read he set me to. And he is awfully good-looking. I had no idea he
would be so good-looking. But I tell you this: no woman that ever saw
him ever forgot him."

"Is he married?"

"I don't think so--no. If he had been I should have heard it. He really
bel